Maria Isabel Santiago
Maria Isabel Santiago is a media mogul who runs Angel Grove News Network as the youngest CEO while Joanna works as her Executive Director. She is Joanna's best friend and treats her like a sister and is also good friends with Beverly. She is of Dominican ethnicity and is a lover of children, nature and goodness and abhors all things that are wrong, your classic good Samaritan. Her star sign is Andromeda, and she's the Zodiac Pink Ranger. She constantly loves saying Spanish slangs, especially Dominican ones. Biography Pre-Power Rangers: Rebirth Maria was born in The Bronx, New York in 1992 in a Roman Catholic family. Her father was a sports journalist and her mother was a teacher, both emigrated from the Dominican Republic, where they moved when she was only 7 years old. Maria always dreamt of following in her father's footsteps to go into journalism, although her mother wanted her to be a teacher. By the time she was 15, her parents moved back to the United States because they abhorred the government of the former president Leonel Fernandez. Instead of being in New York, they moved to Angel Grove, where she became the high school newspaper's writer and later the editor in chief. When she graduated, she obtained a scholarship to Princeton and became one of it's most popular students in the field of journalism. At Princeton, she befriended Joanna Silverman who also shared her passion for the news. After graduating from Princeton, Maria and Joanna returned to Angel Grove where they became roommates and started working for AGNN. Maria later realized that Joanna was a lesbian, and yet supported her considering her a friend. When the Malastarian War came, Maria and Joanna were covering the battle despite being in the extremely dangerous battlefield and they were witness to the deaths of many soldiers and Power Rangers. When a horde of Malastarian drones arrived, they were saved by Beverly, who was attracted to Joanna. Shortly after the war, Maria wrote about her experiences in the war and the book became very successful. Maria spend her years as a journalist talking about crime, justice, pollution, politics and the human condition. Later, Maria and Joanna headed for the Dominican Republic in the hopes of exposing a ruthless criminal wanted by the Global Army, in which they succeeded, but nearly got them fired for risking their lives. Afterwards, Maria and Joanna were promoted. She went on to become the youngest CEO of AGNN. Power Rangers: Rebirth Five years later, Maria made a document of rememberance to the Power Rangers and the millions of soldiers that died to save the Earth from destruction. Shortly thereafter, Maria took a three week vacation with Joanna to the Dominican Republic, where Beverly was waiting to take her lover to a retreat. Maria and Beverly had planned to surprise Joanna and allowed her family's villa in Las Terrenas for the vacation. The next morning while jogging, Maria saw the entity of Andromeda. There she was awed to see the entity, who later blessed her with her power to become the Zodiac Pink Ranger. When she met Beverly, she realized that she was the Red Ranger and then became heartbroken and devastated upon learning of Joanna's demise at the hands of Deathowl. As the Pink Ranger, she fights to protect those she loves against all that is evil and impure. Power Rangers Rebirth: Aftermath Three months after the destruction of Fyrus, Maria was concerned for Beverly's well-being as she was getting herself into trouble by constantly drinking, getting into fights, street racing which got her in trouble with the law. She prays that Beverly recovers as she is sent to rehab. Once Beverly returns, Maria welcomes her with open arms while visiting Joanna's grave. She was with the rangers at the United Nations to answer for their appearance in the Second Malastarian War and along her fellow rangers, she convinced the High Councillor to work independently. Some time later, Maria helped Beverly and Theo stop a cult that worshipped a powerful evil that is approaching and they succeeded. On her 29th birthday, Maria woke up happily for one more year of life but her day was turning bitter when no one even said "Happy Birthday". But then when Theo took her to a party room, her mood changed from disappointed to one of happiness. Maria and Theo then started dating and also went to a Thanksgiving party at Beverly's home. Finally, she joined her fellow rangers at their new command center, where she saw the history of the Power Rangers of old. Trivia * While fighting, Maria makes Spanish taunts against her enemies. * Maria wielding the power of Andromeda is a nod to the character of Shun of Andromeda from the Saint Seiya anime and manga by Masami Kurumada. * Maria's favorite shows are Xena: Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Category:Power Rangers: Rebirth